Canada’s military mission to support Ukraine fades into the background

Pro-Russian rebels wave to trucks marked as Russian aid convoy to Ukraine as they return to Russia near the town of Krasnodon, eastern Ukraine, Saturday, Sept. 13, 2014. More than 200 Russian trucks carrying humanitarian supplies entered into Ukraine with supplies for the city of Luhansk, which has for weeks been cut off from electricity and water supplies. Darko Vojinovic / CP

A little more than a month ago, the Canadian military mission to support NATO and send a message to Russia over its actions in Ukraine was front and centre with the Canadian government as well as the news media. It was also front and centre with the U.S.

Now it has faded into the background.

Defence Minister Rob Nicholson is in Peru to meet with fellow defence ministers.

He met with U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Monday. Although they did discuss Ukraine, Nicholson in his statement focused on ISIL and the Iraq crisis. So did Hagel.

Meanwhile, the focus of the public seems to be more on the Ebola virus and its arrival in North America (Canada included….maybe). One of those involved is a member of the Canadian Forces, recently returned from Sierra Leone, and now in isolation at a Belleville, Ont., hospital with Ebola-like symptoms.

That’s not to say that Canadian military activities surrounding the situation in Ukraine have eased back.

HMCS Toronto joined Exercise NOBLE JUSTIFICATION Monday as part of her Operation REASSURANCE NATO deployment in response to Russia’s “aggressive military actions” against Ukraine, the Department of National Defence announced.

Toronto and other Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 (SNMG2) warships will conduct Task Force training exercises and force integration activities in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea regions until October 26 (a fair distance away from Ukraine). The exercise will also enhance force integration, multinational interoperability and readiness through a high density, high threat scenario in which NATO responds to violations of its territorial integrity and the sovereignty of its member states, the DND noted.

Exercise NOBLE JUSTIFICATION will involve more than 5000 military and naval personnel as well as 22 warships from 16 NATO nations: Belgium, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Meanwhile, the Associated Press has this upgrade from Ukraine:

Military officials in Ukraine say there’s been a reduction in the number of Russian soldiers at the heart of the fighting between government troops and separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.

Russian personnel who had been in field camps in Ukraine have been returning to their home bases inside Russia, Ukrainian security spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said Monday.

Moscow vehemently denies that it has troops in Ukraine or that it supports the separatist forces in Ukraine’s largely Russian-speaking eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Lysenko described the reported withdrawal as a positive process, but said mercenary fighters were still entering Ukraine from southern Russia, where some Ukrainian border posts are controlled by rebels.

A cease-fire declared early last month between Ukrainian forces and rebel fighters has been violated almost daily, although the overall scale of fighting has eased substantially since that time.

Lysenko’s statement comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered thousands of his country’s troops who were posted near the Ukrainian border to return to their permanent bases. A Kremlin spokesman said Putin had ordered approximately 17,600 troops to return home from the southern region of Rostov.

The withdrawal may be a sign of goodwill ahead of Putin’s trip to Milan on Thursday, where he is set to meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and European Union leaders.

As EU and U.S. sanctions against Russia begin to bite and economic growth falters, Moscow may also hope that a troop withdrawal will bolster the chances that Western nations will revoke the sanctions.

Ukraine, meanwhile, is shaking up its own military leadership. On Sunday, Poroshenko accepted the resignation of Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey. Parliament is expected to vote Tuesday on his proposed replacement, National Guard head Stepan Poltorak.

Heletey came under sustained criticism for his handling of military operations in eastern Ukraine, where rebels managed to reverse government successes with a consistent supply of powerful weaponry, causing heavy troop losses, especially in August.

Rebel forces now maintain a secure grip over two key eastern cities – Donetsk and Luhansk – and territory bordering Russia running down to the Azov Sea. Ukraine’s government still holds large sections of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

If Poltorak is confirmed, he may find himself having to deal with dissent among the armed forces. Several hundred National Guard conscripts in uniform marched on the presidential administration Monday evening to demand they be demobilized.

Protesting soldiers said they have already served for up to 18 months, instead of just a year, as is standard.

With the conflict dragging on in the east, the Ukrainian government has had to rely heavily on its standing army and National Guard troops, and on waves of volunteer fighters and draftees.

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